A delegation of seven officials from Malaysia recently visited the National Agricultural Statistics Service Upper Midwest Regional Field Office as part of an exchange to learn about U.S. agricultural data collection. Organized by NASS’s International Programs Office and USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service under the Cochran Fellowship Program, the visit aimed to strengthen Malaysia’s agricultural data collection and analysis capabilities.
A highlight of the trip was a visit to NASDA Iowa Supervisor Connie Merkey’s farm, where the delegates participated in an objective yield survey demonstration. This hands-on experience showed how NASS estimates crop yields and how U.S. farmers contribute data to national yield forecasts.
Earlier, the delegation spent a week in Washington, D.C., where they received briefings on NASS operations, including crop production estimation, data processing, and analysis. NASDA’s NASS Program Director, Charlie Ingram, also provided an overview of NASDA’s critical role in agricultural data collection, with a special focus on the NASDA-NASS partnership and the enumerator program. The delegation was particularly interested in enumerator recruitment, management and demographics, recognizing their importance in accurate and reliable data collection in the field.
This exchange underscores how NASS and NASDA foster global agricultural knowledge-sharing. By helping countries like Malaysia improve agricultural data collection systems, such collaborations enhance global data accuracy and open trade opportunities for U.S. farmers.
###
NASDA is a nonpartisan, nonprofit association which represents the elected and appointed commissioners, secretaries and directors of the departments of agriculture in all 50 states and four U.S. territories. NASDA enhances American food and agricultural communities through policy, partnerships and public engagement. To learn more about NASDA, please visit www.nasda.org.
